An amazing double cheeseburger with a heap of homemade pickles from Pullman in Iowa City

In this special episode we set aside our usual format to talk about three recent travel destinations.

Last month, we visited the annual Natural Products Expo East together. Marisa had been before, but it was Joy’s first time to this enormous industry-only trade show. You’ll need to listen to the episode for our specific favorite items there, but here are some of the broad trends we saw there and dissect in this episode:

Something we read: is cabbage the new kale? Smoked, fermented, slow cooked, braised, stuffed and salad-ified. We don’t think cabbage was ever out of the limelight in our kitchens.

Tacos are a many splendored thing, and we talked all aspects of the classic: fillings, shells, salads, toppings. Sometimes we make them at home and sometimes we go out to eat them.

The first installment in our new series on cooking fats is dedicated to: Olive oil! Marisa went to a tasting seminar this year and lays down some serious know-how about how to taste and choose the extra-virgin kind. Joy tells you her favorite fancy finishing oil.

Rainbow chard–it’s the vegetable Joy loves but cannot remember how to pronounce! We talk about the key to loving this nutrition powerhouse and all the ways we like to cook chard.

An finally, our echo-y interview with Alexis Siemons. You should go and check out her blog. Do you have a special tea lover in your life? Consider ordering Alexis’ beautiful With Tea journal. It comes wrapped in a vintage handkerchief.